Left Behind
by indogma
Summary: Have you ever wondered what happens to the pilots who do not make it on to the Evac point? This is the story of five pilots who now have to fight their way to safety, failing to retake the ship, Odyssey.
1. Prologue: Epilogue

Left Behind:

A Titainfall Fanfiction

By Indogma

Prologue: Epilogue

"It's over guys, we lost…" Bish said disappointed, "Better clear out of there."

"The IMC has taken control of the sector, sending a drop ship for extraction," Sarah added, only adding salt in the wound with an additional hassle to the pilots. Now not only did they have to try kill the IMC forces but now they had to run to a point on the map and try to get on a drop ship out of there.

"What the fucking hell?" Came a loud cry from inside an Ogre Titan, with the bright orange: Bull, painted on it's face, as pilot commanded the machine to crush an opposing pilot into a bloody pulp in his machine's long metal fingers. "How did we lose?"

The owner of the voice was a stocky pilot called Josh Murry, often called "Liner" with a gravelly ugly voice that would never hold a tune. He had dark brown curry hair under his helmet, and had two large cheek bones that gave him the image of a wider faced squirrel. His name, "Liner" came form the face he loved, **loved**, to speak in cliché one liners.

"You heard her, Murry." Came the pilots' commander's voice. Murry looked around the group of buildings and say his CO pilot, fully clad in combat armor, standing their signaling him to move through the ship. Donna Enny, the CO of the 26th Titan Pilot Marauders. "Get to the evac point."

"Got it Don…" the pilot named Murry groused, "Heading their now." He checked his map for the point, "Why the hell is it always on the other side of the map. I swear the hell drivers hate us."

"Just get there and clear it of an ground forces you see, Murry. I'll be right behind you."

"YOU HAVE A FRIENDLY PILOT ON BOARD," came Betty's automated voice.

"Goddammit," Murry swore again recognizing the name of pilot and started pounding on the sides of his cockpit. "Hey Rook! Get the hell off my Titan!"

"I'm just get a ride to the evac." Came a lighter voice through the coms. Rook, one of the newest pilots in the pilot troop. This was this fifth engagement he had under his belt, and had revived a reputation for being unlucky. Five battles he was in and yet no kills of either pilot or titan, only a few grunts and specter kills, making him, at least on paper, the most useless pilot in the troop.

"I don't need your bad luck on rubbing on to my Titan. Now get the hell off."

"I can ride." Rook replied somewhat indignantly but his voice wavering.

"Get off or I will let the next Titan I see fist you! And if the enemy's not willing to do it then I will do it myself when we get to the ship!"

"What the hell is your problem?" Rook whimpered.

"My problem is your goddamn hands are touching my Titan, that's what? Now get off!"

"Rook," came Don's annoyed voice, "I could use you on the ground. Dismount form Murry's Titan and help me clear the way for our ground forces."

"Fine," Rook said defeated, "You fat fucker…" he added off the radio to Murry, running towards the evac on the other side of the _Odyssey._

"Finally," Murry sighed happy, "Little fucker would blow us both us up." He cracked his knuckles and grinned a wolfish smile, "Now, whose next?"

"Be careful, Murry." Don ordered, "Tas? Where are you at?"

"Outside on the hull…" came a toneless voice. "Scouting out the evac."

"Anyone there?"

"Three titans with two pilots—" the man's voice stopped as a loud crack from a Krader rifle came through the intercom. "—one pilot."

"What are the titan's?"

"Two Ogres and an Atlas…" Tas said plainly. "Crowding around the evac waiting for the ship."

"Damn," Don sighed approaching the center of the ship. With the evac called, the mititia would not send any of their titans down to fight the three titans. "It's gonna be tough to get through. Keep an eye on them Tas, let me know if they go anywhere else. Liner, think you can distract them?"

"Aha," Murry laughed, now on the other side of the ship and catching sight of the three titans, "Leave them to me." He reloaded his quad rockets and charged on in, screaming into his mic, "Come get some!"

The three IMC titans were too focused on watching the skies for the drop ship to see the incoming Ogre until it was right on top of them.

"Looks like he's going for it," Rook commented running up to join Don watching the fight before them.

"Yeah. We better watch his ass. One of the titans might get the best—"

"Don! Come in!" Came a quick voice.

"E. What's wrong?"

"My titan's legs just buckled under themselves. They're dead and my titan's immobilized. And I can't jump out, the cockpit door is stuck tight."

"Can't you override the eject protocol?"

"No," the man called E dismissed. "If I eject I will be jumping off of the cliff."

"How close to the edge are you?"

"I fell right on the edge, a few more inches and I would be tittering on it like a seesaw..." A pause in his voice, "You might want to hurry, I think I have a guest—" several loud metal thumbing noise pieced the radio cutting up any reply E might have given. The sound of a

"E! E!" No response. "Dammit! Rook go! Help Murry! Tas! Keep them covered!"

"What are you doing to do?" Asked Rook.

"Just do what I say Rook!" Barked Don, before turning back to the radio to call: "Hacks are you there?"

"I'm here." Came a voice not from the radio but up above. Then from above the ship, a slim figure seemed to fall from the sky in front of Don. Jay Hicks, the one called "Hacks" was a small little pilot, with her short blonde hair cut short just above her eyebrows in a stylistic bowl cut. "What'd ya need?"

"Follow me. E's in trouble." Don said running towards the other side of the ship. Hacks seemed to wait for a second, before joining her CO in the race, and it didn't take long for the blonde pilot to catch up to Don.

"What's the plan," she asked slowing down to the CO's pace.

"Working on it," Don said quickly, jumping over a concrete barrier effortlessly. "Do you have any of your friends?"

Hacks smiled, "Not right now… but I know where I can finds some…"

"Go get them and have them run interference. I'll try to rodeo him at take out his Titan. If he jumps out he's all yours, while I finish the titian."

"Sounds good," Hacks nodded. "See you in a bit," she added ducking into a nearly building to search for her "friends".

* * *

"Haha, someone thinks their tough?" Murry jeered having his titan dash to the right, avoiding an incoming mass of ammunition launched form one of the Atlas's vortex shield.

"ROCKET SALVO READY." Perfect. With the Atlas's vortex shield drained, there was no way he could block the salvo, and the stupid idiot was now trapped the alleyway between two buildings, making the only way to dash possible an advance or retreat. Then Murry saw something that made the situation even better, the other Atlas moving in behind his friend, trying to give support, but effectively helping the Atlas be cut off in three directions; leaving the only possible route to move in was forward.

"Let's see you can dodge this!" He grinned, launching said salvo into the body of his rival titan. Nearly all of the rockets struck against their target, with one or two stragglers veering off into the nearby buildings. When the small clouds of smoke of the impacting missiles cleared, Murry could see the targeted Titan spouting flames at the it's back. It was nearly finished.

"QUAD ROCKETS RELOADED."

No need for those just yet, Murry thought. He dashed his Titan forward; better kill it with his own two hands and save the rockets with for the last Altas. After all that was the last Titian left if he finished this weakened Altas. The trio of titans where now down one thanks to Murrys surprise attack. A full load of quad rockets, a rocket salvo, and a titan punch, (different form a falcon punch), took care of the armored giant and it's pilot without the Ogre even firing a shot in retaliation.

Now it was time to make it an even fight, at least numbers wise. A dashing forward, and he was right in the Titan's face, as was his Orge's fist. One punch was all that was needed to drain the remaining armor of the Titan and doom it. But Murry was not going to let the pilot get away, and before the enemy pilot knew what was happening, Murry struck again, this time punching through the weakened armor surrounded the cockpit, and pulled out the opposing pilot and held him in his hands like a doll.

"Looks like I pulled out a rabbit," He teased, seeing the pilot struggle to break free from the titan's hands. He was still alive, that is until Murry slammed the Pilot's body onto the ground, and stepping on it for good measure.

Two down one left.

Murry looked up and saw the final Atlas falling back around the corner, trying to put the building in between itself and Murry's Titan. But as Murry gave chase, he noticed a faint blue light on the Titian's back. The lights of a friendly pilot. Someone was trying to steal his kill. And he grew angrier as he recognized the light patterned on the helmet, it was Rook's. The damn rookie was trying to steal his kill.

"No way in hell." Giving chase to the titan.

Don looked down form a nearby building's roof and the enemy Strider that was peppering E's downed Ogre with heavy fire form it's chain gun. If the Pilot was cruel he would not bother with spraying the titan with bullets and just push it down to its death. Thank god for small miracles…

"Hacks, I'm here at E. Where are you at?"

"I have two of them ready, and there are three more waiting to be taken. I'll be their in a moment."

Don looked up at E's titan. The back armor was beginning to break under the strain of the barrage of the chain gun, and the small dents of the back plating began to tear open into small holes. E didn't have a moment. "I'm going in," Don declared, activating her cloak and jumping onto the Stryder's back.

That was another thing to be grateful for, Don thought to herself. Stryders did not have much armor, and would not take long to take down if the pilot inside was too focused on E's titian.

Securing herself on the titan's back, she ripped open it's brains and began to do to town the titan's inner working with her CAR sub-machine gun. Just as the clip was about to run out, she felt the titan lurch under her grip, the Pilot was exiting their titan to deal with her.

Even though she would prefer to take out the titan forcing the Pilot to eject into the sky, if she dealt with him now, all she had to worry about was an auto-titian, which was no problem to her.

Finishing off her clip, she sprang of the back of the Stryder towards the build she just jump off of. As she did several things happened at once. First she tried to reload her gun, so she had a way to defend herself against the pilot, at the same time her cloak field had given out exposing her, and finally she misjudged the jump by a few inches, causing the back of her foot to rest on the concrete for a second before it bucked under her weight causing her to fall crashing down ten feet to the ground, slamming hard into the dirt, and temporarily dazing her.

Now she had a problem, the enemy Pilot was out of the titian and was turning towards his G24A Rifle towards her.

Having a person bias against behind shot at, Don instinctive reaction was to abandoned the attempt to reload her CAR, and pulled out her side arm, a B3 Wingman, and fired haphazardly, her mind still reeling form the fall. The Pilot was able to dodge all six shots easy, and when the hand gun was empty, the pilot slowly walked forward aiming down the sights of his gun and pulled the trigger.

The shot hit Don's helmet just above thicker part red glass of her visor, and the heavy bullet ricocheted off the helmet and flew into the air. A lucky miss, but it was enough to put Don in a daze again giving time for the pilot to try again. At the cost of her helmet, her life was extended for a few seconds. All she could do was watch, surprisingly tranquil at her incoming doom. Maybe it was time. She had cheated death so many times before and perhaps this was payback?

She watched as the pilot slowly took aim at her head again, this time focusing harder and longer to ensure some fluke bounce happened again.

And yet form what seemed like far away, she heard a beep, then another, and then when a third beep could be heard a quick, _bang, bang, bang_ sounded. She blinked, and saw the enemy pilot go down, his legs and arms limb and lifeless.

Feeling the her sense returning, he groaned as the pain in her back thanks to the fall was starting to let it's presence be known to her.

"Need a hand?" Came a familiar voice.

Don looked up and saw Hacks standing over her, one hand holding a smart pistol the other extended ready to help her CO up.

"I thought you needed a moment…" Don groaned, as the blonde pulled her to her feet.

"I sped things up," she shrugged. She gestured behind her and showed Don three specters behind her, "I only managed to get three of them…"

"IMC?" Don asked, removing her shot helmet from her head revealing her ebony skin underneath.

"Some," Hack said indifferently. "One might have been the Militia's."

Don only shook her head, Hacks was notorious for hacking friendly specters just to get them under her command. She turned towards E's titan, remembering his she was running out of time. She looked at her watch. Less then a minute before drop ship arrived. "We better try to get him out of there."

* * *

"Get off of there!" Murry barked at Rook, angrily unloading all of his quad rockets into the retreating Altas.

The remaining Altas only took a few of the hits of the rockets, before dashing to the right and avoiding rest of the rockets.

"Dammit," Murray swore reloading the quad rockets. "Get off of him!" He commanded again, "You're scaring him off!"

"I can take him," Rook protested, trying to pull the latch off the titan's "brains". Unfortunately, the latch was jammed, and no matter how hard he struggled he could not get it to open. "C'mon, c'mon," he pleaded. This was the first time he had a chance to down a titian, his first chance to get a kill in battle. He was not passing this up.

Rook felt the titan jerk under him as the pilot made his titan dash to avoid a titan punch form Murry's Ogre. The pilot inside must be trying to lose Murry in order to deal with Rook on his back without having himself having to deal with two pilots, one within a titan.

Another dash caused Rook nearly to loose his grip on the titan, causing the rook to give up on opening the latch normally. He pulled out his automatic pistol, and hid his body as best he could away from the latch. When he was satisfied, he closed his eyes, and pulled back the trigger, not letting go of if until the gun was empty.

When the gun was empty, Rook looked up and saw the latch completely destroyed and the panel swinging freely. He was in.

Suddenly a quad rocket flew past Rook's head as he ducked up to start shooting into the titan, making him cower lowering behind the titan. That was close. Rook peaked up again and saw several more rockets, aimed high and over the titan's shoulder, all of them form Murry's titan. That bastard was aiming at him!

"What are you doing!?" Rook demanded.

"I warned you to get off, Rook." Murry snarled. "I can't be responsible were my rockets go. One might hit you."

"You're threatening—"

"I'm warning you!" He corrected, "That's why I did not want you on that titan. Now get off!"

Rook tightened his grip on the titan, unwilling to give up the kill that was now within his grasp; literally. All he needed to do was unload his carbine into the brains once or twice, and he would no longer be a "Rookie" he would have a name other then rook! But if he weren't alive to get the kill, then he would be labeled a rookie forever. Murry could get away with the kill as well, after all he could claim the rockets were aimed at the titan and the enemy pilot turned enough to cause Rook to get hit. A plausible story, one that was not unknown to have happened before.

"Dammit," Rook sighed, giving up the titan to Murry. The bastard would get another kill out of this, if Murry was as good as he thought he was.

"'Bout fuckin' time," Murry sighed dashing towards the Altas. He grinned, and thought a one liner was appropriate again. "Let's dance."

The Altas, now able to focus on Murry, opened his vortex shield trying to catch Murry using his rockets all at once. But Murry was not planning to use his rockets, instead he wanted to beat the titan to death.

The Atlas, realizing his mistake, gave a heavy punch into Murry's Ogre, causing the bigger titan to fly backwards.

"So he has heavy punch…" Murry grossed. He looked at his armor rating, it was less then 25%. One more punch would finish him and his titan. No doubt the Atlas wanted to go for the execution.

"Well," Murry smiled a plan coming to him, "Better let him have it."

With a dash to the right, taking himself out of sight of the Atlas who gave chase, believing his opponent on the run. As he rounded the corner, the pilot saw the Ogre, standing still and facing him. It tried to give a rocket salvo in defiance, but the Atlas's vortex shield called all of it, and returned it to the Ogre. Now it's armor was gone, and the Atlas punched straight through the cockpit of the titan, killing anyone inside.

But then the titan did something unexpected. Instead of deactivating, the Ogre grabbed the Atlas's arm, and pulled the titan closer to itself, and placed it's hand over the titan's head and cockpit, blocking both routes of escape.

Then a figure appeared on the back of the Ogre, it was Murry, who jumped in front of the Atlas's optics, knocked on it like it was a door, and flipped the other pilot off, before jumping to the other side of the Atlas.

The pilot would have given chase but the Ogre prevented any sort of escape. The Ogre's free hand was blocking the top exit, as well as the front exit well. The pilot would have to wait for the Ogre to doom itself before he was free.

Meanwhile, Rook who was watching all of this saw his chance. Murry was not interested in finishing the titan, and there was plenty of time to board her, and end what Rook tried to do.

Eagerly, Rook bolted to the Atlas, took a position on it's back right where he was before. Rook took the moment, to look at the Atlas's brains carefully, savoring the moment before he went to work, like a artist looking at a canvass waiting only for inspiration for the first stroke.

Unfortunately, Murry's Ogre, Bull, started to rumble, subtlety at first, then more violently as a bright light began to blind everything that could see it. A nuclear reactor.

"Oh, shit—" Rook exclaimed jumping form the back of the titan, and tried to run down the street to a safe distance. He even activated his adrenalin booster to run faster. But it was too little to late.

The explosion that came was large and fiery, consuming everything around the Ogre. The shock wave itself was so forceful, that it knocked Rook off of his feet and sent him flying several feet in the air, causing him to go tumbling into the side of a nearby building.

From the roof of a nearby building, Murry had seen the explosion in all of its glory and was quite satisfied with the outcome. If his titan was to go down, he would make sure someone or something thing went with it.

He had not seen Rook running away from the explosion, if he had he would have gotten some additional amusement form the sight. But for now he was content with the sight of his titan taking down the last of the trio of titan guarding the evac point.

After he was done marveling the sight of his handiwork, he turned to find his luck had come through for him again. He had jumped onto the roof of the building where the pick up flare was burning, and the evac ship had come into sight, causing Murry to smile happy. Today was a very good day for him.

* * *

"It's no good," sighed, Don walking over the back of E's Atlas looking for any way she could get into the cockpit of it. "I can't get the top manhole open."

"He's titian's to heavy to pull," Hacks added, "The Specters are strong by they are not that strong—" she froze as she both felt and witnessed Don wobble and the Atlas moved down an inch. The cliff underneath was breaking apart.

"We gotta get him out of there!" Don declared looking around for any item or machine that might help— wait a machine? She looked at the Styder, still on it's knee after the pilot dismounted it. The pilot mush had manual turned off the autopilot, and forgot to reset it when he dismounted. That might work.

"Hacks, you said you could hack anything machine related?" Don asked knowing the answer.

"You know I can," Hack said defensibly.

"What about that?" She said pointing to the Stryder.

Hacks took one look at the titan, and have a unsure look at her CO. "Never done it before. Might take a bit."

"Just do it," Don ordered. "E's doesn't have long left." She looked at her watch, a minute left before evac was leaving. Neither did they.

"How much longer are you going to wait?" Shouted Murry to the pilot over the loud winding of the drop ship's engines.

"A minute," replied the pilot of the ship. "We have readings of five pilots left, we are to wait for them."

Murry said nothing. Granted he wanted to get the hell out of this place, he knew the procedure himself and had to follow it. "A minute to get on it, plenty of time get left behind." It was a warning to any and all pilots that were deployed that the drop ship only had a minute to pick them up, or run the risk of being left behind. Murry himself had nearly missed the ship once in a place called the Boneyard, in the mission "Dragons," and had been thankful the drivers of this ship had to follow the rule even if three titans were at the drop point. But now, Murry was second-guessing his liking for the rule.

He walked down to the loading by and took a look out into the area, seeing if he could recognize anyone down their. The pilot did not see one friendly pilot, or even the refraction of a cloak shield, to hide. But he did see something that caused him to raise the alarm. An unfriendly manned Ogre shooting his 40mm cannon at them.

"Titan!" He yell to the pilots, reaching for his Mag Launcher to shot at the enemy Ogre that seemed to have appeared from no where. Some pilot must have waited until Murry was on board the drop ship to call it down.

Murry was able to launch all five rounds of his Mag Launcher onto the titan before the drop ship shifted to dodge the incoming barrage.

"SHIELDS AT 50%" came an automated voice.

"C'mon hurry up!" Murry swore reloading his anti-titan weapon. "Where the hell are you Don?"

"Hurry up!" Don shouted from inside the Stryder's cockpit.

"Give me a second!" Hacks shouted back, "Rerouting DNA encoder, replacing it with yours… There!"

Don felt the titan shift under her as she gripped the controls of the mechanical beast. In all of her life, their had never been another feeling like controlling a titan. Sheer raw power at the touch of her hands, how quick and precise the controls were for the pilot. It was amazing.

But their was no time to admire the feeling of this foreign titan, (she never rode in a stryder before), and turned to the task at had.

"WARNING DAMAGE CRITICAL." Came the automated voice, warning of that the titan's core was going critical.

"Had to doom it to get you in," Hacks said mournfully. For Don's sake, or the titan's?

"It works," Don said quickly and grabbed one of E Atlas's legs and pulled it away form the cliff.

"FIVE SECONDS TO CORE IMPLOSION."

"Just gotta flip him," Don muttered, aware if she did not get the titan on her back, they would never get E out in time. Quickly she dashed to the side of the Altas and gave E's titan a kick, and jumped out of the stryder in time before it exploded into a million pieces. Thankfully it was not a nuclear accelerator, and just a small explosion engulfed the Stryder.

After clearing the blast radius, Don turned sharply to met Hacks already trying to pry the titan's cockpit door open.

"Oi, hands up!" Hacks and Don turned to see seven IMC grunts behind them, their weapons pointing directly at them. Grunts, the "backbone of the battle" as they said. But the reality was they were heady a threat to any pilot who paid any attention. But seven of them with the drop on the pilots could take out two of them easily. "Put 'em on your head now!"

Hack's specters were now on the ground, shot down in the noise of dragging E's Atlas form the cliff.

Both Don and Hacks compiled, but both with no intention on surrendering. Instead, Hacks, "left" her smart pistol in her hand and pointed back at the grunts, just waiting for seven beeps.

One grunt however was smart enough to recognize the threat, and shot Hacks in her lower leg. After that, the situation went to hell.

Dropping to the ground, she kept her pistol pointing at the grunts and fired it, without waiting for all seven grunts to become locked in. She got four of the grunts, and Don swung on her heel to take out the other two, but there was one who looked intent on killing Don. Then the grunt's head just dissolved into a million little pieces, and the echo of a heavy caliber rifle echoed in Hack's and Don's ears, which was followed by Tas jumping onto a nearby roof.

"You two alright?" He asked.

"Fine," Don sighed, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Making sure you get to the evac point." Tas said jumping down to the ground in front of them. Kai "Tas" Taseter, was a tall quiet pilot who seemed to tower all over the rest of his peers. Although he was one of the veterns pilots, he had turned down promotion every time he was offered it.

"I ordered you to—"

"You think you can order me to leave you behind Don?" Tas said toneless. "You know me better then that."

"Fine," she spat. "Help us get E out." She turned to Hacks and remembered she was injured. "You alright?"

"Fine," Hacks smiled rising to her feet and pulling up her pant leg, to reveal a prosthetic leg made in the shape of a regular human lower leg, and began to rub a small indentation were the bullet hit. "Always buckles if I get hit their," He laughed lightly. "I bet he didn't know I didn't feel a thing."

"I bet he doesn't care," Don added. "We gotta get E out."

With the three pilots, they managed to break the cockpit's seal slightly, but lacked the final bit of strength to break it open. Just when they were about to let go to try again, they felt a fourth person's strength help in the door and with a final tug, the three pilots managed to rip the door open.

With the cockpit now open, pilot inside stood up quickly and gave a sigh of relief. Edgar Eniquiéz , "E" was a bulky pilot much like Murry. However E seemed to look better with the fuller body, he was more lean and stocky then Murry was. He had pick black hair like Don's, and had a thick mustache under his nose.

"About damn time!" he exclaimed.

"Fuck you too" Don said. "You had us worried.

"We better get going," Tas interrupted, "Evac under attack by a Titan..."

"Murry, Rook you there?" Don called on the radio.

"Coms have been taken down by now." Hacks informed. "No long range radio contact available thirty seconds after evac is called."

"Right…" Don remembered, "We gotta get going!"

"We gotta get going!" Murry said on his last mag of rounds.

"Ten seconds!" The pilot declared.

"No one's going to get here in ten seconds!" Murry said feverishly. Another burst of rounds, and he was out of the Mags.

"ARMOR DOWN TO 75%"

"Fly already!" Murry shouted, "Unless you want us all to die!"

The drop ship pilot gave a reluctant sigh. "Prepare for take off!"

"Finally!" Murry said happy. He heard the sound of a booster jet just then and turned his head down to see the rookie, falling form the drop ship. Apparently Rook had missed judged the jump, and was now falling short of reaching the ship.

"What a useless pilot…" Murry said to himself.

"See someone?" The pilot asked.

"No," Murry said, believing he was doing the troop a favor by leaving Rook behind. "Not a single sole."

"Prepare for jump." The pilot said, and shut the door to the drop ship.

"Hey! HEY! Don't jump without me!" Rook screamed trying to get the pilot's attention, as he jumped back onto the evac's roof to try to reach the ship again. But as he bounded off the roof, the door to the ship closed on the rookie. As he hung in the air for a moment, before the inevitable force of gravity made it's presence known, Rook's eyes met those of Murry's, and he felt a surge of anger as the burly pilot smiled cruelly at Rook.

The bastard knew he was there! Would he call the ship to stop to pick him up for evac? Unlikely.

Rook's suspicions was proven true as he watched the ship sail up in the sky and warp away into the planet's orbit. Completely oblivious to the pilot down below, so who was only seconds away form getting aboard.

When the ship was out of sight, Rook felt his body go numb, and he came crashing down into the ground hard, his legs bucking under the weight, causing him to fall to his knees.

"Fuck you Murry!" He swore bitterly, tears beginning to cloud his eyes at the horrid thought that he was left behind. "You should be dead," he muttered, before screaming loudly, "YOU SHOULD BE DEAD!"

* * *

End Notes-

Have to say, I really loved the chapter title. It's not very often one can use epilogue as a title for the prologue! Haha.

Anyway, this is a bit of an experiment for me, trying out how to write a different from of action then what I am used to writing. Let me know if it works or is clunky and needs work.

Cheers,

Indogma.


	2. Titanfall

Left Behind

A Titanfall Fanfic.

By Indogma

Chapter 1:

Standby for Titanfall

"Evac ship has arrived from the _Odyssey, _Graves." Came the report.

"How many made it?" Asked the former Admiral grimly.

"Only one pilot," said the serviceman weakly.

"Damn," Graves sighed.

"So much for retaking the _Odyssey,"_ Sarah sighed, leaning on one of the consoles of the militia's flagship _Homer. _

"IMC's just trying to counter us wherever we go." Bish commented, "If not, why keep us from the ship? It has to value to them. Or us for that matter…"

"It's apart of our past," Graves said, "And it's the least I can do for Mac."

"Yeah, yeah," Bish grunted.

"Who was the survivor," Sarah asked.

"A pilot named Josh Murry."

* * *

"It's gone," E sighed letting his spitfire's barrel sink towards the ground. "Evac's gone…"

"Yeah," Tas nodded, "It is."

"Looks like we're stuck here," Hack commented.

Don said nothing as she scanned the sky above looking for any forlorn chance a shuttle had remained behind, but her search was interrupted by the ground shaking beneath her feet. When she caught sight of the Atlas Titan, she said, "We've got more immediate problems."

"What'dya think Don," Tas asked checking his ammo.

"We need to jerry-tom it." She looked towards E. "Anvil have the slammer mod?"

"Yeah," E said lifting his gun on his shoulder. "I'm playing brain surgeon I take it?"

"Hacks and I will run decoy. Tas you're pilot control."

"Got it," Tas nodded darting forward and turning on his cloak.

"Where am I in this?" E asked.

Don looked around and found the ideal spot for E to camp until the titan strolled by. "See that rail overpass." E nodded. "Wait up there, we'll him under you. Hacks do you have any ark grenades left?"

"One," Hacks shrugged.

"Better than nothing," Don sighed checking the remaining ammunition. About two clips worth left. With a final nod toward Hacks and E, they darted ahead towards their places.

"Murry…" Rook growled, still on the ground looking up towards the sky. "Eat shit and die." But no one heard him as he kneeled in the dirt. For a moment he remained there, caught in a daze.

"TITIAN!" Came a panicked scream from affair. Rook turned to see a small group of militia grunts running down the small road between the ship and the buildings. When the grunts had darted from view, an IMC Atlas appeared in hot pursuit of the troopers, one of the victors picking off the remaining enemy survivors.

Rook watched the titan until it disappeared behind the buildings and was gone from view, but his eyes remained on the corner of the building; the realization of threat of the enemy titan means he was still in danger not connecting in his mind.

"Pilot!" Came a call from the young man's side. Rook turned his head lazily to see a grunt pulling at his shoulder. "Get up! We need your help!" The man pointed down the road where the titan had strolled across. "That titan's killing my men! I need y—" then the man's head exploded; blood and gray matter spattering the helmet of the rookie pilot, like a sick painting.

Rook stared the deep red of the flesh blood now streaked across his visor. _Blood; is it mine?_ Trough the blood he caught sight of another image, a gray mass moved towards him. A titan. Suddenly his mind came to life, and Rook realized he was in danger. He darted from his spot on the ground and ran to a nearby doorway of a building, falling to the floor as his legs fell out from under him as he reach safety.

"You alright?" Came a hand tugging the pilot away from the doorway just a barrage of bullets came flying where the pilot once stumbled.

For a moment Rook could only stare at the blurry images that clouded around him. At first he instinctually reached for his carbine, but something prevented him from pulling the trigger on whether. Then his eyes seemed to come to their sense and he could recognize who they where. They where the Militia grunts that he had seen running away from the titan just a few moments before.

"Yeah," Rook exhaled, agreeing while his body did not feeling fine.

"Did you see our Lieutenant out there?" One of the grunts asked.

"Who?" Rooks asked absently looking at the blood on his visor. "Oh, uh, I am not sure…"

"Get down!" Came the cry as a renewed salvo of bullet's came in through the doorway.

"Oh god, oh god oh god," pleaded one of the grunts, fretting for their life.

* * *

Meanwhile the IMC pilot was enjoying herself in this turkey shoot. One pilot, about five grunts were not much for this pilot, and she was eager chalk up the kills for himself.

Then a frightening sound to any pilot rang in her ears. The beeping sound of a missile lock on. Darting her gaze around, she saw one pilot, with short blonde hair, standing to her left pointing an Archer missile launcher at her. When the sound of a lock on beeped in her ears, and saw the smoke of a take off. The IMC's pilot shook from a direct hit, and the pilot turned fully to mow down this pilot would attack her. But as she tried to target the pilot, she had sprinted down the road between the _Odyssey _and the shantytown buildings.

"Get back here," The IMC pilot cursed turning to give pursuit to the pilot. The grunts inside the building could wait and would not do much damage to her or her Titan if left alone. She was not sure if she had seen a pilot as well in there, but the imminate pilot was more of a threat than the one she might have seen.

Giving chase, the IMC pilot was rewarded by seeing another pilot along with the one who had shot at her sprinting down the road in full retreat. "Easy," the pilot boasted zooming in on the slower pilot, strangely the other pilot than the blonde harred one, and opened fire. Only three rounds were shot off, before the automated voice informed the pilot. "RELOADING WEAPON."

She was out of bullets; only a minor set back, but nonetheless an inconvenient one. She looked back at her targets and saw that they where already under the over pass and seemed like they where heading to the building on the far end of the road. Well, this pilot was not about to let her prey escape. So with both of her dashes she sped ahead until she reached the over pass; where three things happed at once.

One, she had ran out of dashes to use, and now had to content with walking to her prey. Two, her gun was now reloaded, and ready to shot out hot death upon the two pilots, who had just ducked on the first story of the building. And she would have been more than had done, if it was not for the third item. The sound of soft rattling's echoed inside the cockpit. At first the pilot dismissed it as her Titian scraping the sides of the over pass. But once she crossed the makeshift bridge, the rattling continued, causing her to worried.

Her fears were confirmed a mere second later. "ENEMY PILOT ABOARD." She had been boarded!

Panic set into the Pilot as she could hear the shots hammering her Titan's brains, and the armor gage on her HUD diminishing rapidly. Instinctively, she triggered her elect smoke on her titan, causing a thick fog of electricity to spew from her Titan. For a moment, she waited in that smoke and watched as the enemy pilot indicator to turn off. Soon it did, and either the other pilot had died or had bailed.

"Better get rid of that one," the IMC pilot said to herself.

She got as far as turning slightly before she was bombarded by heavy fire form the front. The other pilot she was chasing had a sidewinder! She turned back to exit the smoke, only run into a Ark grenade, causing her screen to go wild.

Then it was like hell broke loose. She could not tell what was hitting her, but whatever it was it was coming from all sides. Mag rounds from her left, a beam laser from her back, and a combination of a sidewinder and Archer missiles from the front.

Needless to say, she was all but fucked.

It took only second's for her Titan's core to overload, and she knew it would not last much longer. Furiously the IMC pilot pounded her keys of her console and ejected form her Titian and activated her cloak.

She swung her head in the air angrily, searching for any or all of the pilots who did this to her Titan, and piloted what she would to them.

Then there was loud, _krack, _and all of the thoughts had stopped. In fact everything about the pilot stopped, apart from a small stream of blood that flowed from the pilot's helmet.

Her body became like a ragdoll, her limps flaying in the air as he plummeted towards the ground. And in a freaky connection her she smacked into the ground at the exact moment when her titan imploded.

Coincidence or not, most of the Militia pilots did not notice it as they appeared from ever they where. Don and Hacks walked out of the building on the edge of the cliff, E jumped down from the over pass, jumping on it when the smoke was released, and Tas just appeared out of nowhere like he always did.

They were alive and well, despite all of the circumstances.

* * *

"Admiral Graves! There's scans showing several of our pilots are still alive at the _Odessey!" _

"Are you sure," Bish exclaimed looking at he monitor.

"At least five pilots and several grunts are still down there!"

"Can we send a hell rider down to get them?" Sarah asked.

"No time." Graves dismissed, "Most of the IMC fleet is on it's way here, and we can't get tangled in a full out fleet action just for five pilots."

"So are we just going to leave them there?" Sarah snipped.

Graved said nothing at first, and instead headed towards the monitor to look join Bish. "Who is down there?"

The serviceman pulled up five profiles on each of the five pilots. "Captain Donna "Don" Enny. Senior officer of the 26th Marauders. Master Sargent, Taseté "Tas" Isamuto, second officer of the troop. Sargent Edgar Eniquiéz. Corporal Barbara "Hacks" Hicks. And Private first class, uh," the serviceman tried to dig a little deeper, "Rook, Sir."

"Are they all still alive?"

"As far as I know," Bish nodded looking at the date himself, "And it seems, three of them have been left behind before. Don, Tas and E, all were left behind at Fracture, Sir. They know what to do I bet."

"There's more then just those three," Sarah countered. "Those are some tough odds they will be able to do it again."

"Well lets try to better them then" Graves declared turning towards Sarah, "Load up their spare titans with everything you can think of. Food ammo, anything they might need."

"Should I throw in a few special weapons as well?"

"Whatever will help then get through this," Graves said. "Just get them ready to drop."

* * *

"Is it gone?" One of the grunts asked aloud hearing a large explosion.

"It might be a trap," another said.

"Pilot, go check out," one of them requested.

Rook shot an uneasy glance towards the grunt who had said it, but understood why the grunt would ask him. A pilot could get away easier from a titan easier then a grunt could. Still, it was not a likable request.

Equipping his helmet, still covered in that other grunt's blood, he took one step forward only to stop mid step as he and the grunts heard a rattling from the next room. Everyone turned their guns towards the small room to their left and waiting nervous as a footstep could be heard. Then a figure came out of the door and jumped back as he saw about seven or sow guns pointed at him.

"Jesus Christ!" E swore ducking to the wall as a trigger-happy grunt opened fire.

"Hold your fire!" A grunt shouted, silencing the gunfire.

"Goddammit Rook, get those grunts under control!" He fumed, still hiding behind the wall.

"Lower you guns," Rook said at last, "He's with us."

"Thank you," E's said tightly walking out from the cover. "What are you all doing in here?"

"Hiding from a Atlas," replied the grunt who had ordered the ceasefire.

"That Atlas is dead," E replied. "No need to hide any more." He looked past Rook towards the grunts. "Who's in charge of you guys?"

"I guess I am," said the grunt again. "Why?"

E pointed outside, "Don wants all officers of the survivors to meet with her."

"Why?"

"Cause we're going to be here for a while."

"Looks like you missed the ride too, Rook," Don commented seeing the other pilot walking in with the seven grunts.

"Yes, Sir," Rook agreed half-heartily.

"You wanted to talk with me?" Said the "leader" of the grunts.

"I did. I'm Captain Don of the 26 Marauders."

"Sergeant Dlow." The man replied. "In charge of the grunts it seems."

"Lucky us," came a snarky response form on of the grunts.

"Sergeant, I'm sure I don't have to inform you that we lost this fight. As we missed our ride."

"I know, you're man said that you were stuck here."

"We _all_ are stuck here," Don replied flatly. "And that means we are going to get moving if we want to live."

"Why the hell do we need to do that?" Came a protest from the snarky grunt. 'We have defensible positions here? Why not dig down and hold out here?"

"Because we have no fleet support," Don said shaking her head. "What you want to do, if you have a death with and want to go out in a blaze of glory, you can do what you said. But it will be short and a very pretty death; once the fleet locks on to your defenses."

"What should we do?" Asked Dlow.

Don pointed towards the jungle, "We get moving into the tree line. There they can't lock on us from above."

"Isn't the jungle a bad place to be?"

"So's being in the crosshairs of an orbiting ship," Don countered. "The truth is, the jungle might kill you. The IMC _will _kill you. Understand that dipshit?"

The snarky grunt, grumbled to himself, but it seemed he learned his lesson, for now.

"Good," Don said turning back to Dlow, "Now we better gather our resources."

"What do you have?" Dlow asked.

"Five pilots. You know me, Rook there and E. Tas is on the top of the ship keeping an eye out for incoming titian drops. And Hacks… is doing her own thing."

"So that's five pilots," Dlow summed up. "I got seven grunts all low on ammo and out granades."

"Good. We can't eat grenades. Do you got any food?"

"No," Dlow shook his head.

"Well that's not good," Sighed Don. "Food would have helped us last a bit longer. But now we are going to have to scavenge…"

"What the hell do you know about scavenging?" Spoke the outspoken grunt.

"Because, you little shit," Don said getting into the grunts, "I've been left behind before. And if you little shit stain was to get off this planet at all, you'll do as I say."

"And if I don't want to?" replied the grunt standing his ground.

"Gunther," growled Dlow.

"Then you get left behind," Don said pulling out her Wingman pistol and pressed it against the man's leg. "With two shot out legs so you can't follow." She saw the fear in the man's eyes and twisted her threat, "I wonder how long you can keep up with us be you were bleed out? Hours? Minutes?"

"I get it," Gunther sneered.

"Then keep your mouth shut. 'Cause one less mouth to feed would be ideal."

"Like you would feed us anyway," snipped back the grunts.

Don gave no reply to the grunts accusation, but she did remove her gun from the grunt to turn towards the leader of the grunts.

"Dlow, have your people fan out and search the shantytown."

"What are we looking for?"

"Anything. Extra guns, ammo, food, and anything we can drink. No booze, unless you want an group of drunken soldiers." Don looked up towards the sky as if she was gauging the time by the sun. "We don't have long until our fleet bugs out of the orbit. Hopefully we will not be noticed by the IMC, but if decide to look for us, this is the place they will start looking."

"Got it," Dlow nodded. "You heard the pilot! Fan out!" When the pilots were gone, only E and Rook stood standing in the road.

"What should we do?" Rook asked.

"Pilot meeting," Don said pointing towards the wretched ship.

"Heard you had trouble with one of the grunts," Tas said suddenly as the five pilots meet in the large hanger of the ship.

"Have him on your crosshairs?" Don sneered.

"Might have been lining up a shot," shrugged Tas. "Would have stopped any trouble in the ranks."

"That's what we need to decide," Don said sternly. "What do we do with the grunts?"

"What do you mean?" Rook asked.

"There's thirteen of us with the grunts. Mean's we have to feel seven extra mouths then we should. You know how much food that is?"

"Water as well." Added Tas.

"That mean's we'll have to play babysitter to them," Don exhaled rubbing the back of her neck. "Unless we ditch them now go on our own."

"You can't mean that," Rook said. "You said you've been left behind before. So it will be easier time."

"Kid," E pointed to himself Tas and Don, "We all were left behind once."

"What? What happened?"

Don said nothing to the Rook and looked towards Tas. "What do you think?"

Tas shrugged, "Leaving them behind might be the best. Save us some trouble."

"Hacks?"

The woman shrugged, "Doesn't matter to me."

"E?"

"Ditch 'em. We can't have any more liabilities then we already do."

Don nodded and sighed, "Is that what you want?"

"What about me?" Rook demanded. "Don't I get a say?"

"We'll ask you when you've earned it Rook." Don said crossly. "And how you handled that Titian proves you haven't earned a kill."

"You asked Hacks." Rook grimaced.

"Hacks is our tech. Her opinion matter far more then a no-kill pilot. That means if she told us were to shit in a volcano we'd do it. Is that clear." The Silence from the Rook told Don that is was.

"Then its decided," Don summed up sadly. "We—"

"Pilots. This is Admiral Graves." Came a call suddenly to there ears. "We cannot send a ride to pick you up. But we can give you a fighting chance. We're dropping your spare titan's now, along with a supply cache of food and water. Keep up the fight, and we'll be back to pick you up. Good luck."

"What the hell's he talkin' about," He asked.

"Pilots, standby for Titanfall." Came Sarah's voice confirming the drop. "Titans will fall on the south clearing of the ship."

"Shit," exasperated Don. "Rook, go find the grunts and warn them that we have friendly Titans falling. Make sure they don't get trigger happy on out titans."

"Why do I have to warn them? They can't do much."

"Because if you don't I'll break your knee caps. Go. Warn. Them."

Knowing his CO could and would make good on her threat, Rook bolted off to find the grunts.

With the dunce now gone form their gathering, the four pilots reconvened.

"What the hell is Graves doing?" E declared. "Giving us our titan's without our asking for it."

"I don't mind," Hacks declared.

"You wouldn't." E's sighed. "You treat yours like a pet."

"And you don't?" Hacks asked.

"Pet or not, we're in trouble here Hacks," Don barged in, "With our titan's dropping, the IMC is bound to notice."

"And with our titans its going to be harder to hide…" E added.

Suddenly there came the sounds out several heavy impacts of falling to the ground.

"They're here," Tas said.

Looking towards the south, all four pilots saw five fire balls falling down to the ground.

"What the hell is that?" Cried Dlow as he rushed into the _Odyssey _with all of his grunts and Rook at his heels.

"Our titans," Don said plainly. "Didn't Rook tell you they were dropping?" She glared at Rook.

"You man did, but that doesn't explain what the hell you are playing at calling down your Titans!"

"We didn't. They were dropped for us."

"How convenient," Gunther drooled.

Don glowered at the grunt.

"So we have our titans?" Hacks shrugged, "What's the problem?"

"That fact that you didn't tell us you had your fuckin' titan." Dlow fumed. "You kept us in the dark!"

"So the fuck what?" Tas said sternly, showing the first sign of emotion that Rook had ever seen. He turned to stare down the grunt sergeant. "If you are afraid of being left in the dark, let me ask you this: what the hell are you doing to do about it? Make us tell you everything we do? You think you can make us do anything?"

Dlow said nothing, as he had to look up at the tall sniper.

"Tas," cautioned Don, "That's enough." It took a moment for Tas to finally step back, but even when the sniper was out of the grunt's face, the tension hung in the air. Until Don spoke again, "Look, it's clear we don't trust each other—"

"You can say that again," snipped Gunther.

"BUT, as I can see it you have several options before you." She pointed towards the jungle, "You can try your luck in the jungle by yourselves." She shifted towards one of the nearby buildings. "You could try to make a defensible position here and try to hold out until the fleet tries to retake the planet." She dropped her arm. "Or you can come with us, along with our titans."

"I thought we were leaving them behind?" Rook hushed to Hacks.

"Things changed when our titans fell," Hacks whispered back. "I bet Don wants ground support for our mechs."

"I would suggest you follow us," Don added.

The grunts exchanged looks between each other. "Why would we do that?" Asked one of the grunts.

"Because that is your best bet," Don said plainly. "Seven grunts on their own? How long do you think you will last?" Again more nervous looks. "How about seven grunts five pilots with their titans?"

"Even if we did go with you, what guarantee do you have that we will not get killed?" Asked Dlow.

"None," Don admitted.

"Figures," Gunther scoffed.

"You better watch your mouth, son." E growled. "A loose tongue as a way of being cut off if you are not careful."

"How died and made you in charge?" Gunther snapped back.

"He's done this before," Rook said angrily.

"He's right," Tas said crossing his arms. "Three of us have been left behind before. How many of you can boast that?"

None of the grunts spoke, even the one named Gunther. Suddenly Dlow spoke, "I'm assuming there are conditions to following you?"

Don nodded, "If you follow us, you take our commands." She said plainly. "That means everything I, Tas, E, or Hacks say is a command." Rook wanted to interject but a glance from Don told him she had left him out purposefully, again.

"Is that all?" Dlow asked.

"For now. There might be more conditions as issues arise," Don promised.

Dlow looked back at his men. "I need to talk this over with them."

"Then I would be quick." Don said looking to the sky. "It won't be long before the IMC has orbital control." She turned back to the grunts. "You have about ten minutes to decide. A second later and we will be gone. Understand?"

Dlow nodded, "Will be there."

"If we want to," added Gunther.

With the terms, what there were, laid out for the grunts the Militia pilot turned to head for their titans.

* * *

"God damn," marveled E looking over his Atlas titan. "They sure did deck her out."

"Which one is that one?" Hacks asked interested.

"Sully," E boasted. "After a girl I new back on the core planets."

"And I though you didn't treat your Titian's like pets," Hacks teased.

"I only called this one Sully cause she's a bitch to handle." Then he added in a whisper. "Much like the Sully I did know."

"So they gave us moded weapons," Tas commented.

"Probably thought we were desperate." Don added.

"Hell," E said cheerfully. "If that is what it took to get better weapons, I'd wouldn't mind getting left behind more often."

"This is probably because there were so many of us," Don answered. "They probably didn't want a repeat of what happened at Fracture."

"Well we're nearly there already," Tas said.

"What happened at Fracture?" Rook asked again.

"Nothing worth telling," E said sternly.

"Why not? I'm a pilot, I should know this."

"Rook," E said crossly, "Even Hacks doesn't know what happened." Rook turned to hacks, but she was to engrossed with looking over her titan to listen. "And it's best that it stays that way."

"Then how about why we're suddenly asking the grunts to join us?"

"'Cause the IMC going to be hunting us," Don said atop her titan. "And the grunts are going to be easy targets."

"I though you didn't care—"

"I don't," Don replied quickly. "But I can't just leave a group of our own people behind knowing they will die. If it would have just been us on foot we, the grunts would have just slowed us down. But with our titans, we can't out run them."

"I doesn't hurt to have cannot fodder too," Tas said coldly.

"Enough of that Tas." Don said. She turned back to Rook. "So it is better just to work together then piss them off and ditch them."

"I still don't under stand," Rook said.

"I though you wouldn't," Don sighed under her breath. "Just check over your titan. We don't have lone before the IMC comes to secure the ship."

Rook did as he was told and headed towards his own Atlas.

"You alright?" Asked Tas, stepping on Don's titan.

"Not now Tas," Don warned.

"One moment you're trying to rid of the grunts, and now you want to save them. It would make anyone think something was wrong."

"We have a better chance to this time, Tas." Don said looking at her second in command. "As well as put them in more danger then they sould be."

"Is this what happened at Frac?"

"Maybe," Don allowed. "Maybe I feel like I owe them something. Or maybe it's that I want to get it right this time."

"If you ask me, you did it right the first time."

"Well I wasn't asking you!" Don snapped. "Is your titan ready?"

"I don't know."

"Then go find out!" Don ordered.

Tas only nodded and turned to check on his Orge.

Free of distractions, Don turned to look over her Atlas herself. Until a new voice drove her away from her titan: "Hey, Don?" The captain turned and saw Hacks standing at the foot of Don's titan, a mischievous smile on her face.

"What is it—" Don suddenly cut herself off as she noticed three Specters behind the pilot.

"I was wondering since we are bringing along the grunts I could have these tag along?"

"Did you just find them?"

"Nah," waved Hacks, "I had them out scavenging for spare parts incase they broke one of theirs." Don noticed a large sack of robotic limbs on the backs of one of the specters.

"Why?" Don asked.

"Cause then they could keep us with us if we had to bug out. They can run almost as fast as I can, and for just as long."

"You planned to have them follow us even after we ditched the grunts?" Don asked.

Hacks shrugged. "Maybe. I can't leave them behind without trying to bring them along."

Don shook her head. Hacks was always a strange one.

"They're clear of any IMC programming that might have had them traced," Hacks added. "And I can program them to take your orders incase I get shot."

Don weighed the options in her mind. When she made her mind, she sighed allowed, "Alright Hacks, bring them along."

"Thanks you, Sir." Smiled the blonde haired pilot. "You won't regret it."

"I already do," Don sighed. The from behind the blonde haired pilot, Don saw the small gaggle of grunts walking towards them. "Made up your mind?"

Dlow stepped forward and looked up at the pilot. "We've talked about it," he glanced over his shoulder and his grunts. His voice sounded nervous, like he was agreeing to sell his soul, "And we will go with you and your pilots."

"So agree with everything?" Don asked. "You follow my orders. No questions asked?"

Dlow nodded reluctantly. "Yes. We agreed."

Don glanced back, and wondered if _everyone _had agreed, or were strong-armed into submitting.

"What the hell?" Cursed someone to Don's right. She turned and saw Rook's cockpit had been opened. The inside of the cockpit had been stuffed full of supplies. Boxes of ammo, field rations, one or two gallons of water, and a few extra firearms.

"Supplies," Don realized, her mood improving with the sight of the items stuffed into the cockpit of the titan. She then lowered herself towards the top panel of her cockpit and open it only slightly. Sure enough in her titan was also filled with supplies. All the better. After all it looked as though the grunts had not gathered much of anything when Don had ordered them to gather supplies. But now it was irrelevant now, thanks to Graves and their Titans.

She turned back and looked to the grunts and tested her power over the grunts. "Go help the Rook with those supplies."

There was a brief moment when the grunts did not move, but merely stared at the stuffed titan, until they realized that what was inside the titan was their means of survival.

"Don!" Came a worried E's voice. "We have shuttles dropping!"

She swung upward and saw several IMC grunt shuttles dropping on the far side of the _Odyssey. _

"Change of plans!" She told everyone jumping down from her titan. "Grunts! Gather what you can from Rook's titan! Pilots! Turn the titans to follow! We need to get into the jungle!"

* * *

"Scans show five enemy titans remaining on planet surface." Reported a specter on Admiral Spyglass's bridge. "Probably of disruption of supply routes on planet: high."

"Location?" Asked the Admiral.

"Less then a thousand yards away from the ship: _Odyssey." _

"ETA for range to orbital bombardment?"

"Half hour," replied the specter. "Corse of action suggested inadvisable. Remaining forces reported heading into the jungle. No clear target is visible. Orbital bombardment inefficient. Propose sending task force of pilots after remaining pilots."

"Proposal accepted." Spyglass said. "Call Sergeant Blisk.

"Admiral?" Said the blonde cruel soldier.

"Sergeant Blisk, you are to remain in planetary orbit with the titan carrier _Predator. _A group of rebel pilots remain on the planet. It is vital that they are removed before they harm any supply route on the planet."

"A bit of hunting, eh?" Blisk smiled evilly, "Sounds like fun."

"Are your orders clear?"

"Aye, sir." Blisk nodded. "I get right to it."

* * *

-End Notes-

A bit of a off chapter, I admit. The reasoning of why the pilots had to take the grunts and go into the jungle is a bit wonky.


End file.
